A Balanced Walk?

I've been pondering Enoch's walk with God. You remember him, right? Walked so tightly with God that one day God just allowed him to keep walking up through the gates. As I read it, Enoch had a fairly balanced walk. He spent time seeking God and then going out and sharing with those around him.

I’ve been told all of my life that I need to be out there sharing, out there witnessing; out there (wherever there is) doing something. Seldom have I been told that I need to balance the "out there" with the "in here". And I think that is a problem with many of us. We lack the balance of Enoch’s walk with God. A balance of seeking God and then sharing. Seeking God and then sharing. Seeking and Sharing. We end up on one end of the spectrum or the other.

Many of us are so busy with the business of the church and the busyness of the church that we have forgotten it’s purpose. Many of us are so busy with sharing that we rarely take time for in trospection and worship. Many of us get so caught up in working for the Lord that we seldom take time to know the Lord. We always have literature with us. We are ready in season and out of season. We know the texts and we want to share. As one retired pastor friend of mine put it, “We work for God like the devil.”


Or we are on the other end of the spectrum. Many of us continue to focus on getting ready for Jesus to come…focus inwardly…We focus so much on getting ready for His coming that we stay uptight and have a hard time winning anyone for the Lord, because we spend more time worrying about whether we are ready to go or not, or else we worry about whether we have done enough or whether we have enough knowledge. We work so hard at making sure we know all the right texts and having our theology straight, that we don’t see how warped we’ve really become. Knowledge and theology won’t save you. Only that relationship will. Knowledge about God is not the same thing as knowing God. Texts to defend a theology are not nearly as valuable as walking with God and doing His bidding. Knowing the truth is not as critical as living and breathing Jesus. And consequently the reason we have a hard time sharing with others, is because we have a hard time with our relationship with God. BTW, All of that thinking centers on what I can do…not what Jesus can do for and through me.

How do I get the balance of the Enoch walk? My focus ought to be on enjoying my relationship with Jesus right now and then simply doing what He asks of me today. Being where He places me and being faithful at those.

So maybe I can have a walk like Enoch’s. Maybe I can end up being translated. Being translated was not Enoch’s goal. Going to heaven was not Enoch’s goal. Enoch’s goal was to know God and to follow Him. Ellen White, in her book Patriarchs and Prophets, page 73 says: “For three centuries he (Enoch) had walked with God. Day by day he had longed for a closer union; nearer and nearer had grown the communion, until God took him to Himself.”

She goes on to say this. By the translation of Enoch the Lord designed to teach an important lesson. There was a danger that men would yield to discouragement, because of the fearful results of Adam’s sin. Many were ready to exclaim, “What profit is it that we have feared the Lord and have kept His ordinances, since a heavy curse is resting upon the race, and death is the portion of us all?” But the instructions which God gave to Adam, and which were repeated by Seth, and exemplified by Enoch, swept away the gloom and darkness, and gave hope to man, that as through Adam came death, so through the promised Redeemer would come life and immortality.”

So rather than growing discouraged by Enoch’s walk, I can gain hope, knowing that it just reiterates the promise that someday God is going to once again open the portal between heaven and earth, and take those who have been walking with Him. Once again, as He did with Enoch, He will come for those who desire Him.

The Critic or the Dancer?

What an awesome day.  David had worshipped with his mind, his heart, his soul, his body and now he was worshipping with his finances as well, recognizing that God had given him everything, and he in turn wanted to give.  He was aglow with worship.   He was excited to go home and bless his family as well.  As he heads up the palace steps, Michal, his wife, comes out to meet him.  She did not approve of his performance.  As a matter of fact, as the procession had entered town, she had watched the whole thing from her window. 2 Samuel 6:16 says,  “As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.”  Through the remainder of the worship service, she stews and churns about the way he has worshipped.  Is she not the daughter of King Saul?  Dad would never have acted like that!  She had been raised in the royal household.  Of royal lines.  Married royalty.  And it had gone to her head.  She despised him in her heart.  This wasn’t the way royalty acted.   A Royal must always keep their dignity. Their air of mystique.  Other wise, the people would see that they were really no better than anyone else and their fat-cat lifestyle would come to an end.  So to have  David dancing around in a linen ephod would never do.  And she despised him.

He the dancer…she the critic.  And as the ecstatic David comes up to share his joy of worship, he meets the rankled Michal, and the bitter words come spilling out. "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

Can you imagine the effect of those words on the heart of David?  From joy-thrilled to joy-killed in a sentence.   She could have entered in to worship with him.  She remained aloof.  She could have humbled herself, but she was a royal.  Her arrogance keeps her from true worship.

Some things never change. How many of us peer through the window of aloofness and arrogance as we watch others worship, and despise them and their form of worship in our hearts?   When we see someone raising their hands in praise.  When we see someone entering totally and emotionally into worship.  Actually using their body to praise God too.

Did  you know that criticism and worship can never coexist in the heart.   Often our attitudes keep us from worshipping.  We have turned worship into a cerebral, spectator event because we too often peer from the window down on everyone else.  You Pentecostals…too wild!  You Catholics and Presbyterians…too stuffy.  And we go down the road critically analyzing every worship style, all the while our own undetected arrogance keeping us from truly worshipping. 

Who told you that our order of service is right?  Who told you that it had to be done a certain way or it was wrong.   How do you know we have the right style?  You see, while it is true that there are things God requires in worship, one of the first is ardent devotion to Him.  Not an order of service.   Another of those things is a seeking after His heart and totally entering into worship, rather than slumping in the pew and seeing what you agree with or disagree with in the service. 

True worship can take many forms.  We may worship with our minds, but a raising of the hands?  Forget it.  And yet, Ps. 134:2   Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD.   And 1Tim. 2:8   I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.

We subscribe to the body posture of worship in kneeling.  Open palms before God simply means that I am ready to receive what you want to give me Lord.

But more than our minds and our body posturing, God wants worship from the heart…in whatever form or expression that may take.

Too often we throw harsh, critical words into the face of a true worshipper, just because it doesn’t look like what we think it should.  Too often we despise a person in our heart for what appears to us to be out of line.  What window are you looking through?  Be careful.

I’ve seen it happen to young people who were trying to express their love for God in a fresh way.  I’ve seen it happen to older people who decided that they needed a fresh hold on God.  When the critic meets the dancer, the harsh words can shrivel the heart and steal the joy. 

David knew what he was about.  He knew he was honest in his heart before God.  And he responded to Michal… "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel --I will celebrate before the LORD.   22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

Notice something important here.  God didn’t censure David for his all-out worship style.  But Michal was left barren.  Her words not only shriveled the joy of David, but her womb as well.  She thought she had it right.  She thought to rebuke him to get him to get with the royal program, but David didn’t buy in.  He knew there was no rank before the Lord.  He knew that the ground is level at the feet of the Maker. But she, playing the critic of worship, was left barren and childless.  I believe that it is the critic, and not the dancer, who will also be left spiritually barren and spiritually childless.  Unable to be productive for God.

Are you a dancer or a critic?  Are you in the streets or peering through your window of arrogance?  Are you truly experiencing worship, obeying the commands of God, or are you just going through the motion with no reason other than you’ve always done it this way.

To dance before God means that you go all out, remembering what He has done for you.  It means that you have gratitude.  It means that you have expectations of closeness with Him.  It means that you have ardent devotion and you are not afraid to show it.

What If?

John 4:23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Have you ever wondered what that meant?  What does it mean to worship in spirit and in truth? In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren notes, "Since worship is delighting in and enjoying God, it engages your emotions. God gave you emotions so you could worship him with deep feeling -- but those emotions must be genuine, not faked. God hates hypocrisy. He doesn't want a show, or pretense, or phoniness in worship. He wants your honest, real love. We can worship God imperfectly, but we cannot worship him insincerely.

"Of course, sincerity alone is not enough; you can be sincerely wrong. That's why both spirit and truth are required. Worship must be both authentic and accurate. God-pleasing worship is deeply emotional and deeply doctrinal. We use both our hearts and our heads.

In another place, in the same book, he says: “In our competitive world we’re taught to never quit trying, never give up, and never give in - so we don’t hear much about surrendering. If winning is everything, surrendering is unthinkable. Even Christians would rather talk about winning, succeeding, overcoming, and conquering than yielding, submitting, obeying, and surrendering. But surrendering to God is the heart of worship.

“Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.

“True worship -- bringing God pleasure -- happens when you give yourself completely to God.” (from Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life)

Inspired author Ellen White, in her book The Desire of Ages, page 189 writing about this story says: He (Jesus) desired to lift the thoughts of His hearer above matters of form and ceremony, and questions of controversy. "The hour cometh," He said, "and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."  {DA 189.1}

Here is declared the same truth that Jesus had revealed to Nicodemus when He said, "Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God." John 3:3, margin. Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple are men brought into communion with heaven. Religion is not to be confined to external forms and ceremonies. The religion that comes from God is the only religion that will lead to God. In order to serve Him aright, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind, giving us a new capacity for knowing and loving God. It will give us a willing obedience to all His requirements. This is true worship. It is the fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit every sincere prayer is indicted, and such prayer is acceptable to God. Wherever a soul reaches out after God, there the Spirit's working is manifest, and God will reveal Himself to that soul. For such worshipers He is seeking. He waits to receive them, and to make them His sons and daughters. {DA 189.2}

God longs for us to seek Him and be born of His divine spirit.  It is only in this that we have a new capacity for knowing and loving God.  It will give us a willing obedience to all His requirements.  

Romans 12: 1,2 says: 1   Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.  2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

True worshippers are those who don’t just offer a praise song.  They don’t just throw a buck at the offering plate.  They offer themselves a spiritual act of worship.  They become consumed with a passion for God.  They are ones who are no longer being squeezed into the world’s mold.  They don’t allow Satan to mar their picture of God through looking at the things of the world.  Instead, they are being transformed through worship that renews their minds.  How do you know if that’s you?

Pastor, author and speaker, Louie Giglio writes: "Follow the trail of your time, your affection, your energy, your money and your allegiance. At the end of that trail, you'll find a throne; and whatever, or whomever, is on that throne is what's of highest value to you. On that throne is what you worship." (Louie Giglio, The Air I Breathe)

What if God were really the only Object worth focusing on?  What if our focus on His beauty made our problems pale in comparison?  What if we were never meant to be the actors on center stage?  What if we were meant to be the audience members, watching Jesus on center stage?  What if?